Chew: Come to us for help
‘Talk to us if you need assistance with aged parents’
KUALA LUMPUR: Children should not abandon their ailing parents if they cannot afford to or do not know how to care of them, said Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.
“Let us help you. Talk to the Social Welfare Department. There are ways to help your parents.
“Can you sleep well at night if you abandon your parents?” Chew asked at a press conference at Wisma MCA yesterday.
She was commenting on The Star’s exclusive report on Monday about parents who are abandoned in public hospitals.
Chew said the department would always check the family background of unclaimed patients before deciding on the next course of action. Foreigners would be handed over to the Immigration Department while homeless senior citizens would be sent to old folks’ homes, she added.
“If they have family members, we’ll send them back to their families. If they refuse to take them back, we’ll counsel them.
“Society must also play a role. We should not allow this to happen as it’s the children’s responsibility to look after their parents,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, Chew announced that a two- day symposium on culture and creative arts industry, themed “Powering high-income economy through culture and arts”, would be held at Wisma MCA on June 24 and 25.
“How do creative arts practitioners make their art marketable and accessible to the public is among the key questions that the symposium will explore,” Chew said.
The symposium, which features seven Taiwanese experts of creative industries, is a curtain-raiser to the Blossom Arts Festival Malaysia 2017 in August.
It is jointly organised by the Malaysian Chinese Cultural and Arts Consultative Council, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, Malaysian Institute of Art, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Photographic Society, and National Taiwan Normal University.
Admission is free. Visit www. blossomartsfestival.my or call 03-2203 3971/3979 to register.
Can you sleep well at night if you abandon your parents?
Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun